What are our rights to use a ditch to discharge output from water treatment plant

[AZS]

Hi - I am hoping someone can offer some advice. We have replaced a septic tank with a water treatment plant and discovered with all the rain that our drainage field gets overwhelmed in winter as we have a high water table. The clean water needs to go somewhere and there is a ditch on the other side of the lane that we maintain that we would like to output to during winter when the ditch is flowing (I understand you can install an automatic switch to do this). I also understand I would need the landowners permission, but do they have the right to say no and leave us with a non-functioning system (and therefore a house we can’t live in)? How do riparian rights work? Thanks for any advice.

[ToughButterCup]

Welcome.

The answer is contained in the General Binding Rules for small discharges :

 

Yes, the landowner(s) can say 'No' and frequently do. We had this problem and solved it like this.....

 

We asked our near neighbours for permission to put our foul drain pipe across their land. They refused point blank. Even when we offered £5K.

We asked another neighbour: she agreed subject to proper paid for advice, and a proper legal agreement. I arranged all of that, £2K later, it was all sorted out.

 

The major irritant was the speed of their lawyer's work flow : glacial.